Empty Graves
by wingweever
Summary: Faust has gone on to open a morgue and hospital, after the loss of Eliza. However, people go missing, and his business truly booms. When Lyserg looses a member of his family, will he too become one of the countless victims of Faust's mad experiments?
1. The laughing tree

Me: wow everyone…..been to long since you heard from me, ne?

Riku: So?

Me: /glare

Kurama: It's been like…a year or two hasn't it?

Me: um…yeah…and to all those people keeping track of "Through the Multi Colored Looking Glass" I am going to update soon…….but first I will go back and completely revamp it.

Duo: Thank Shinigami…..

Me: OK! God, you guys got cocky while I was away….

Lyserg: ….

Me: you have a physical incapability of being cocky Lyly…..you are just here because you're SO DAMN CUTE! And Faust…..

Lyserg: What about him?

Me: Well……I did have a fun little bunny run through my head….

Lyserg: You wouldn't….

Me: Try me……. /grin

Lyserg: have fun with your TYFC bug then, I'm hitting the Bahamas….

ME: /grab…..but it's a little buggy with your name on it!

Due: Dude…I'd run……

Kurama: Remember her last bug?

Lyserg: 0o /looks at the remains of Vampyre (A/N: that story was never written. will be soon, promise.)

Me: Shut it all of you, my bugs are delicious…….so…stfu and HERE WE GO!!!!!!! Oh, just FYI, most of this song arose from the song "Prelude 12/21" by AFI……oh, and it does have an original char. In it who is a main part of the story.

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! I do not own any Shaman King characters (as awesome as that would be). The only things I can claim is the plot…HAHA…guess I do own something.

It was eerily quite that night in the cemetery. The headstones were like an audience before him, awaiting their master puppeteer to speak. A fog crept in slowly, wrapping around his legs in the chilled autumn night. A bright moon seemed the only light cast upon his darkened figure, a silhouette against the great tree behind him. Its branches twisting and turning like thousands of arms desperately attempting to reach for anything to hold, to steal life from. The trunk wound around itself in a dizzying display of dark wood, it's figure a horrible creature that seemed as if at any moment it could come to life and reap your soul from your heaving chest. From the twisted branches dangled the laughing skulls of many victims, held by the slender strands of their own silken hair, all of them stared wanton at the shadowy figure, their only wish to be held in his hands the way she was. Wrapped around its twisted body were empty chains, awaiting their next sacrifice.

Faust's eyes glared longingly at the skull in his hand, which only seemed to torment his twisted soul more and more with every passing moment. His hands grasped it delicately, his long digits fingering the new crack on the back gingerly. His other hand lay on the cold, worn headstone beneath him. His feet dangled in the open grave beneath him, his black shoes tied snuggly to his pale feet to prevent them from falling onto the open coffin below.

"Now Eliza…how do you keep getting yourself into this mess?"

His voice was high, yet rasped, and it echoed around the graveyard like death's own song. His face looked as if he were nothing but a collection of mutilated parts strung together by his own needle, which seemed to tug as he pulled it into a disgusted frown. His white hair shown bright, a ghostly halo around his pale face.

The skull seemed to smile with a deep grimace, her boney smile unwavering, and eyes so deep in certainty that it was as if you were staring into the darkness of death. A sound suddenly broke through the silence. A small bell rung, continuously, unevenly, until it slowly died down. Faust turned his head in the direction of the bells and grinned. The sun slowly rose over the cemetery, casting a red glow over the soil, as if the sun were spilling its own blood across the earth. He gave the grinning skull a solemn kiss upon its boney cheek, and gently dropped it into the open grave, where it rejoined the rest of the body.

Faust sighed pleasantly, and turned his body until his feet met the ashen soil on the other side of the headstone. His long legs creaked under him as he stood, as if he had sat unmoving for decades. He stretched, his slender figure moving under his dark suit, and grabbed his long coat and top hat from one of the low twisted branches of the tree that hung over him. _CLICK CLICK CLICK._ The skulls moved, knocking each other, and the noise echoed through the night. His unholy chimes making the only movement seen for some distance.

He smiled at the clanks, turning his head at an angle that no human could, and titled it upward, his smile filled with malice.

"Now now dears, don't make such a fright. I will bring you a new friend soon."

The noise slowly died, as if a single word from their master had quieted the movement of souls.

He turned himself toward the direction from which the bells rang and walked, his body tall yet slumped, as he creaked and groaned from the constant misuse. His feet seemed to glide over the ground like a specter, the soil unperturbed. When he approached a new gravesite, the soil still settling, his grin could only widen.

"Well hello there my dear, what could ever be wrong? Is there not enough air for you? Is your bed to small? I could set you free if you'd like…"

He kneeled next to the gravestone.

"…For a price."

The bell rang again.

"I want to see that pretty smile of yours…"

The bell rang long.

"Oh? You make that promise so easily…Would you promise me that smile for the rest of eternity."

This time the bell did not ring, which caused him to give a little chuckle.

"No? But darling, I thought you loved me."

It rang only once, slowly and uncertain.

"But I need a reason to let you out, you were such a bad girl… you hurt Eliza."

The bell did not ring again, and after a few minutes he grabbed a long shovel that lay by the headstone and began the long dig. _SHINK…SHINK…SHINK._ His shovel moved slowly, yet with great skill. He quickly reached the bottom, and even through the labor not a single bead of sweat appeared on his face.

_CLUNK._ His shovel made a narrow grove in the top of the coffin. He grinned wildly, and he cleared the rest of the coffin of dirt, and then slowly opened it.

"Hello dear."

The body was pale, her face skewed in a mask of horror, her hands and dressed covered in blood that poured from the wounds on her fingers. The small red string tied to her pinky that connected her with the small bell on the surface, had broken. Her eyes seemed hollow, not a sparkle of happiness or shred of sorrow in her eyes…only the cold reality. He bent down and touched her fingers, where the blood no longer ran red, but clotted in a black lump from where her nails once were.

"Tsk Tsk precious, you know how bad your nails are? I hope this is only skin deep, or you may be useless to me."

Faust began to examine her, touching her body eagerly, his pale hands ghosting over every portion of her body frozen in time.

"Well, dear, it looks like you didn't struggle too much…So it should be easy to pull those yucky muscles out of your arms…"

The smile that he gave her seemed to be filled with an eerie happiness, and he reached down and lifted her body.

"Aw…You must have worked up a nasty sweat…your body is already stiff."

Faust looked up out of the grave and saw a young boy looking down at him, which only made his smile widen.

"Why Ezekiel, good to see you."

The boy only nodded, the light brown curls of his hair flying into his face, and he brushed it away.

"What do you need?"

"Someone is at the shop for you."

"Oh?"

"Yes sir."

"I see…Well then," Faust sighed, "Take her and put her by my bed, I will see to her later…"'

"Do you want me to cover her?"

Faust looked up angrily.

"No fool! The ravens are hungry!"

Ezekiel jumped and nodded, then reached a calloused hand down and, with great effort, lifted the corpse from the grave. He did his best not to look at her, and kept his face on the ground as he hurried away.

Faust lifted himself and dust off the dirt, ignoring the stains now set in on his clothing. He turned and headed to the small mausoleum on the outskirts of the grave. As he approached he stared quietly for a moment at the wooden sign haphazardly attached to the building, Museum Ement, and noticed that it began to fade a little, a crack split it down the middle. He let himself through the front door as he heard footsteps run up behind him.

"Ezekiel!"

"Yes sir?"

He turned and looked at the young ward, a deep angered glare set into his face.

"Where are they?"

Ezekiel seemed to cower under his masters' gaze and his voice shook as he whispered,

"He is in the back sir, I told him to just have a seat in your office. I check before I let him in! I swear!"

Faust just scoffed and headed into his office. _Thunk, Thunk, Thunk._ His feet no longer floated over the dusty floor, and his prints were clearly visible as he marched angrily to his office. His hands wrapped around the deep blood curtains that hung between the front store and the morgue in the back. The curtain pulled sideways with a loud _swish_ and he stormed into the back. The tables were lined perfectly against the wall, old and bloodstained, yet surprisingly unfilled for the time of year. He walked past them, his hand enclosed on the old pewter handle and he burst through the doors.

He stood still as he stared at the small figure that sat before his desk. His hand slipped from the handle and a malicious grin spread across his face, which he quickly hid behind a solemn face.

"Hello."

The boy jumped and looked up at him; his deep green eyes were blotched red with unshed tears. His hair seemed to fall around his face like the leaves of a willow tree; in the morning light that crept into his office under the thick curtains, it glowed in all the colors of the grass in the sun. His skin was the color of the beach sand, a pale tan speckled with light freckles barely visible. His body was shaking slightly, and Faust sat on the chair next to him placing a hand on his shoulder gingerly, unused to the touch of another living human.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to the young man, who took it thankfully.

"May I inquire as to whom it was?"

"M…my sister" He said between sobs.

"I see. I know a pain very similar to yours. But I am here to help ease your pain. I will take care of her for you Mr.…?"

"Call me Lyserg."

"My name is Faust. I promise to treat your sister well, and we can pick out a beautiful site."

Lyserg nodded, and Faust could barely hold in his wicked smile. He was playing right into his hands.

"How about I have my ward bring you some tea, would you like that?"

He shook his head and sniffled one final time before wiping his eyes and straightening up.

"I'm sorry about that, I thought I could handle it but I suppose not. I came here in place of my mother who is taken to her bed with the fever, and my father was already placed in your grounds."

Faust stared at him hard…

"Yes! I know your face seemed familiar. Your father was very wealthy; he donated a great deal to my shop. I'm sorry I did not notice you sooner."

"Please don't do anything for me you wouldn't do for anyone else. You were treating me well before you remembered my face."

Faust laughed, yet it seemed hollow.

"Do not think it cruel of me, but I was grateful to your father for his donation, you have done nothing to earn the same little friend. You are grieving, and that is why I will treat you the way I do."

Lyserg smiled.

"Thank you."

Faust patted his lap and stood, his lanky body towered over the young Lyserg's.

"Why don't we see to your sisters accommodations, hm?"

"I would like to mention before hand, we do not have as much money as we used to, a great deal of what was left went to my mothers' doctor."

"Don't fret. I will take care of everything. You can pay what you can muster and the rest can be taken care of."

Lyserg smile widen.

"Thank you."

Faust took Lyserg's shaking hand and led him into the shop.

"Now, my young friend, I will see to gathering your sister this very afternoon, and we may make preparations then. Now, I will have my ward return you to your Home. Give Mrs. Diethel my deepest regards and…" He paused on their journey to the door to grab an unmarked container off the shelf. Its contents dark and sharp, and if you took the time to stare, you may have thought you saw them move. Faust reached in and pulled a single tiny, black branch out and placed it into Lyserg's palm.

"This will help with your mother's fever. Brew this in some tea with honey, and she should feel much better."

"Thank you very much Faust." Lyserg smiled with true innocent affection, for he could not see the malice hiding behind the smile of such a generous man.

He was shown the door, and Faust merrily went on to his gruesome prior engagement. He body making its way past the countless headstones, mausoleums, and unfilled graves, slowly coming closer to the grand tree, and what lay just past it's reach. This mausoleum was much more grand than the others. Its walls made of the blackest obsidian, that shown in the morning sun with such an ominous ferocity that you would think that creatures of death lurked within its masked doors, though you would never know how correct you truly were. Faust walked up the stairs to rest his hand on a large silver inlaid depiction of an angelic skeleton, her wings spanning the whole front wall. His hand, lying between her outreached harms that held a small red garnet in the shape of a heart, pressed down and the image broke in half as the doors parted.

He wasted no time, for it seemed time held still for the pale figure with the skeleton grin. The door closed with a loud bang, and he made his way down the spiral staircase, only to be greeted by the body of the girl resting upon the deep mahogany coffin in which he called his bed. The ravens that filled this room slowly picking at her, feasting on her skin and eyes. Faust walked to her head, and placed his palms on either side of her face, forcing the raven feasting there to move downward.

"Now dear, you are lucky that you had such beautiful hair. Otherwise this would have been for nothing."

He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small silver scalpel, and began his work. He started at her forehead, and dug in deep, her blood pooling slightly, still warm. He worked with precision, and when he had finished, he gave a gentle tug and her scalp pulled free, which he moved to lay on the table next to his bed.

"Now Eliza, all I need is that perfect skin…I know just where to get it. Soon my love, you will be with me, forever, just as before"

He gingerly touched all that lay before him, the hair, the eyes in the jar of the most perfect violet blue, the nails that were long, elegant and unbroken. All these were the most perfect specimens, all for her.

He turned back to the corpse on his bed, and with a great shove, she fell onto the floor with a thud. The ravens cawed angrily, but quickly returned to their feast. He opened the casket, laid himself in the red silk lined box, and closed his eyes, his mind pondering the task ahead.

Me: OK THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Well….that's all you get so right now at least.

Lyserg: ~.~ I hate you

Me: I know

Duo: As long as it isn't me

Riku: Or me.

Kurama: I know your pain.

Me: you guys make it seem like Faust going on a maniacal bloodthirsty pillage of Lyserg is a bad thing…I mean COME ON! It's like Little Shop meets Shaman King and a little Sweeney Todd tossed in!

Lyserg: you so didn't ask my opinion on this…

Me: That's because I don't care. Anyway, please comment….constructive criticism encouraged……NO FLAMES!!!!!!!! I WILL HAVE FAUST RIP APART YOUR SOUL AND USE IT ON ELIZA.

Promise I will update soon.


	2. The Vampire and the Sparrow

Me: yes yes I know this has been like….left in waiting for what? A year? Ok as promised in Breaking the Kekkai I am UPDATING PEOPLE! Hazzah!

Lyserg: T.T I was happy when you left it.

Me: Oh shut up, be satisfied that you won't get your skin ripped off in this chapter.

Lyserg: 0o WHAT!? I get my skin ripped off?

Everyone: 0o

Me: just pretend I didn't say that….you may, you may not. Depends on my mood.

Lyserg: T.T someone save me

The sound echoed through the room, a quiet clicking, slow yet steady…almost as if the skeletons had heartbeats. _Tap Tap Tap_. He tapped insistently on the side of the dulled, dark, rich wood of the coffin that his body was unceremoniously splayed about over. His lower body was resting comfortably inside the deep blood red of the cushions, while his head craned against the upper corner. Both of his long skeletal legs draped over the far side and bottom of the long box, hovering above the dark wetness of the floor. His dark pants hung loosely over his black shoes, which despite the dampness and dirt, seemed untouched. In his left hand he held her, Eliza, his fingers running gently over her cranium, fingering the whole that was left there, while his other had rapt against the wood. His thoughts crept through his head like a fog, thick and heavy, and left only the site of red mingling with green, causing Faust to grin wickedly.

The crows around him cawed as they finished their meals and flew back to the nests they made inside hollowed chest cavities of old victims, or amongst the piles of bones that littered the floor of the mausoleum. The largest however hobbled her way to the side of the coffin and gave Faust's hand a little peck, not enough to break his alabaster skin, but enough to cause him to look down and let his boney fingers stroke the top of her head, his face tilted as he cooed at her.

"We are so close now. His skin was very beautiful, almost as perfect as yours," he said turning back to Eliza, "though I suppose I will have to examine it more closely to be sure."

He brought the skull close to his lips, and let the blue tinged skin touch against her forehead before setting her in his lap.

"This one will not be as messy as the last, I won't let him get to nosey." he said as his face contorted into seriousness, but as soon as that face came it went, and a chill swept through the room as his muscles pulled the flesh taught against his bones, his face stretching into a skeleton grin "This should be much more fun than the last one though."

He gave a small cackle, the ghoulish laugh reverberating off the obsidian walls, and caused he crow at his side to let out a good long caw before flying to join another, nesting in a large pile of skulls. The human hair twisted and matted above each head turned into a warm nest, and each skull glaring at the world with cold malice. Faust just watched her and made a smaller laugh.

He lifted himself up out of the coffin, placing Eliza's skull down on the pillow there with the grace of a knight and his princess, and gave a low elegant bow before her.

"Until tonight my lady, please await my return."

With a final pat on the dark coffin, he moved the lid back in place and let himself finger the golden filigree writing that was etched into it.

_Eliza Faust_

Simple enough, she would not be there long, so he felt no need to date it at the time, though many times he wondered how long she was there in this dank tomb…how long her spirit waited for him to bring her back.

He sighed and stalked to the other side of the coffin, lifting what was left of the morning's kill, wrenching her head free with a loud _shlunk_ as the cartilage split from the vertebra below it, little bits of remaining blood splashing onto his face. He just sighed and lifted himself up, carrying the skull underneath his right hand, his finger twisted into the eyes sockets, bloody goo slicking his fingers more and more as he walked. He moved silently up the winding stairs and to the other side of the angel wall. This side was not so filled with sorrow as the angel was, this engraving depicted a human angel, he face resembling Eliza's, with her arm stretched out towards him, in it lay the other side of the garnet heart. He pressed his free hand against it, and the wall split again to reveal the light of a brisk autumn noon. The air no longer held the same chill of night, the light spread itself like a veil across the ground, forcing even the darkest shadows to hide beneath their masters. But Faust would not hide, he was a demon in human form, and no light would cast him away. He made his way forward, to the tree that seems more black in the sun, it branches hung low as if burdened by the light, and its faces no longer laughed with the moon, but seemed pained and afraid in the light of the sun. He reached a hand up and pulled a few pieces of hair from other skulls, and began to wine them around through the jaw and eyes, then connected it to a few others that hung from the tree. A small breeze blew and they clucked and clamored closer to the new object, praising it for company and scolding it for its silence. Faust just smiled, the blood on his face now dried, and the goo on his hand growing cold in the breeze. He reached that slick fingers up and touched the cheek of the skull gingerly and gave his best charming smile.

"You were so helpful, enjoy your new friends."

That was all he said and he gave a small nod of his head. He turned his head and continued on toward the morgue, hoping no other costumers would be there to see him in this state…No Faust was not afraid of being found out, but the thought of showing himself in the blood of someone so unworthy of him made him feel ill.

Faust made his way through the back door of the shop and quickly moved to the basement. He heard the small footsteps of Ezekiel above him, and a quiet _swish, swish swish_ of the broom as he swept the floor. HE just shrugged himself out of his jacket, allowing it to fall in a heap on the floor. His other clothing followed it, and soon he was there in the bathroom, underneath hot running water that felt like lava on his cold skin. He let his eyes close and his mind drift off, his hand raking over the image of the youth that he had seen only hours before, checking him in his mind for imperfections. He quickly shed him of his clothes and checked again, listening to the screams of the smaller man that played like music in his ears.

Suddenly a knock came to the door and he opened his eyes to see it open slightly, and a pale hand gently leaning down to exchange his old clothing for something new.

"Thank you Ezekiel"

_Yes,_ he mused, _this may be more fun than I first anticipated._

Lyserg was across town now, in his own bed, listening to the sounds of the birds outside his window, soon it would be winter and they would travel, and the only sounds he would hear would be the sounds of the blackbirds cawing their menacing voice from the grave at him with those hungry eyes. It was not a time he looked forward to. His hand rested on his stomach, playing with the laced dress shirt that he still wore, after he had long shed his travelling coat and exchanged his tight black britches for something more comfortable in a pair of loose brown slacks. He rolled over so that his face pressed into the pillow. He wanted to feel sorrow, to feel pangs of loneliness and anger over his sister's death…but in truth he didn't know her well, and the tears he shed were merely a formality he felt in the presence of others. Death was a part of life he had come to understand and it no longer hurt him the way it should. But that undertaker…The way his hands moved against him. Lyserg sighed, a blush working his way up onto his face.

"I shouldn't be feeling like this the day after my sisters death."

He rolled on his side and let his face gaze out the window and the dying world around him, the leaves that fell with each passing moment and the children that went about collecting them for their silly games. He watched the older couple the lived just down the lane as they walked to the corner, so stuck in their old ways that they refused to take a pistol with them despite the place that they lived. It wasn't the worst neighborhood, but with a murderer on the loose, it was better to be safe than sorry. He rolled completely over and threw his feet off the bad, allowing himself enough leverage to lift himself up as he stared at the closed door.

This feeling he had was strange and he wasn't sure he wanted to admit the attraction he had felt. Faust was like a vampire to him, seducing his mind with nothing more than a glance, preying on his innocence…and he fell into so deep that he was sure he could never break free. The way his eyes held Lyserg's, or the way his skin played over his muscles on his elegant hands, or the way he more floated than walked. He was beautiful, though Lyserg wasn't sure how to pursue it. He smiled and placed his hands on his knees, he would catch himself a vampire if it was the last thing he did, he swore to himself. Oh but little did this sparrow know that the vampire craved him just as well, and he would not let this little bird get away from him.

Me: ok sorry that was short and the ending was blah, but I had this written for a month or too and I kept forgetting to finish and post it. And thanks Alex, this updates for you, I'll try to update more often.


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